SURREY LIFE LISTS

If you have seen more than 200 species in Surrey then you are doing well. Of the top ten Surrey lists, number ten stands on 225. However, the top man is Johnny “Badgeman” Allan who is on 259. Dave “the Walton Ninja” Harris is on 256. All of the top ten listers are avid, even fanatical, patch watchers so get to see a lot of species which are not easy to see in Surrey. Some of them are excellent rarity finders. Between them, they have seen 277 species in Surrey.

The area covered for Surrey listing is as recorded by the Surrey Bird Club (the Watsonian vice county, south of the Thames). Spelthorne, “Political Surrey”, north of the Thames (it’s still Middlesex on your address if you live there), is not included.

All birds on the list follow the BOU British list so you can’t count, for example, Pale Bellied Brent Goose or “White” Wagtail etc until they are officially “split”. In recent times, some of the top ten have added Green Winged Teal, Common “Mealy” Redpoll and Hooded Crow to their lists (and even more recently Yellow-legged and Caspian Gull), when the BOU officially split them.

All county and national rarities on the list must have been accepted by the official records committees so you can’t count that Black Kite that flew over your head if you don’t submit it or if it’s not accepted. The committees are the British Birds Rariities Committee for national rarities and the Surrey Bird Club Records Committee and the London Natural History Society Records Committee (if they occur in the part of Surrey that now is in Greater London), for county rarities.

If you have a high list and are interested in Surrey listing, please let me know.

Move on to view the following:

WHO ARE THE TOP TEN SURREY LISTERS AND WHAT ARE THEIR LISTS

WHAT BIRDS DO THE TOP TEN SURREY LISTERS NEED

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